Anonymous
The world is full of fools, and he who would not see it should live alone and smash his mirror.
Anonymous
Young men think old men fools and old men know young men to be so.
Bacon Francis 1561-1626
‘The Antitheta of Things'
Silence is the virtue of fools.
Defoe Daniel 1660-1731
The True-Born Englishman
Fools out of favour grudge at knaves in place.
Donne John 1572-1631
‘The Triple Fool'
I am two fools, I know,
For loving, and for saying so
In whining poetry.
Dryden John 1631-1700
Sir Martin Mar-All
For secrets are edged tools,
And must be kept from children and from fools.
Goldsmith Oliver 1730-1774
The Deserted Village
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.
Hobbes Thomas 1588-1679
Words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools.
Inge William R. 1860-1954
There are two kinds of fools; one says, ‘This is old, therefore it is good'; the other says, ‘This is new, therefore it is better.'
Jonson Ben c.1573-1637
The Alchemist
Fortune, that favours fools.
Kilmer Joyce 1886-1918
‘Trees'
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
King Martin Luther 1929-1968
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
Lamb Charles 1775-1834
Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.
Melbourne William Lamb 2nd Lord
(of the Catholic Emancipation Act)
What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the d-d fools said would happen has come to pass.
Milton john 1608-1674
Paradise Lost
Into a limbo large and broad, since called
The Paradise of Fools, to few unknown.
Pepys Samuel 1633-1703
Diary
Strange to say what delight we married people have
to see these poor fools decoyed into our condition.
Pope Alexander 1688-1744
An Essay on Criticism
Yet let not each gay turn thy rapture move,
For fools admire, but men of sense approve.
Pope Alexander 1688-1744
An Essay on Criticism
For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Proverbs and Sayings
Cree Indian
There is no chance for old fools.
Shakespeare William 1564-1616
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
Swift Jonathan 1667-1745
‘To Mr Delany'
Hated by fools, and fools to hate,
Be that my motto and my fate.
Swift Jonathan 1667-1745
‘Tis an old maxim in the schools,
That flattery's the food of fools;
Yet now and then your men of wit
Will condescend to take a bit.
Taine Hippolyte 1828-1893
There are four varieties in society; the lovers, the ambitious,
observers, and fools. The fools are the happiest.
Twain Mark 1835-1910
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Hain't we got all the fools in town on our side?and ain't that a big enough majority in any town.
Twain Mark 1835-1910
Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.
Villiers George 1628-1687
The Dramatic Works
The world is made up for the most part of fools and
knaves, both irreconcilable foes to truth.
Voltaire 1694-1778
It is hard to free fools from the chains they revere